Monday, October 21, 2013

iLogic: How to learn Inventor's Application Programming Interface (API)

Issue:
You've been somewhat successful using iLogic code examples that you find online, but you'd really like to learn how to create your own code from scratch. So how do these other people find the programming calls to create new code? It seems that there is some missing puzzle piece that you can't seem to locate, something that explains how to get started programming in Inventor. Does something like that exist?  





Solution:
Programming in iLogic involves two different methods, that are often mixed together. The first method is to use "native" iLogic functions, the second is to use "raw" API functions by employing Inventor's Application Programming Interface (API).

  • "Native" iLogic functions are a dictionary of automation functions that deliver the power of Inventor's Application Programming Interface (API) to users by using single-line automation functions. So you can think of iLogic as a collection of the more common programming and automation tasks that the developers have "cleaned" up so that users can create some Rule based automation in their design. This mean that the iLogic dictionary is just a simple subset of the larger API collection. 

  • "Raw" API language can be run using the iLogic tools as well, but will require more knowledge of VB.Net based syntax, and more need to declare and define within the code language. To get started with Inventor's Application Programming Interface (API) you can use the following links. 

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This paper provides a brief overview of Inventor’s programming interface and illustrates this with examples using iProperties:

**missing link**
VBA & Inventor API Introduction (zip file - 11.2 MB)

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The following resource will help you get started with programming Inventor. It assumes familiarity with Autodesk Inventor and general programming concepts:

DevTV: Introduction to Inventor Programming, a self-paced video tutorial demonstrating how to get started developing with Autodesk Inventor.
View online | Download (zip file- 51.8 MB)
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The links above as well as additional information concerning the Autodesk Developer Network resources, can be found at this link:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=1079044&siteID=123112

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